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Newsela | Women's marches around the world continue one year after election

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Tuesday, April 4 is Equal Pay Day, a day which symbolizes how far into the current year women must work in order to make the same amount of income that men made last year. As special attention is given to the gender wage gap today, you may hear many frustrating arguments about the pay gap that exists between men and women. In order to help navigate these arguments, the following is a guide debunking some of the most common erroneous assumptions about Equal Pay Day and the gender wage gap.

This year's Equal Pay Day demonstrates that, on average, in order to make the same salary as men made the previous year, women must work 44 days into the following year. This reflects an overall wage disparity of American women making, on average, 79 cents for every dollar that the average American man makes. Equal Pay Day is designed to draw attention to this disparity as well as to inspire others to take concrete action to remedy the issue.

However, while this day is meant as one of collective action and advocacy, it is also often punctuated with arguments from skeptics about why unequal pay is not discriminatory or why it exists in the first place. These arguments are certainly frustrating to encounter, particularly on a day meant to highlight inequitable treatment, and thus it is helpful to have counterpoints ready in case you do encounter them, today and everyday.

1. Women Don't Negotiate Their Pay

Some argue that the gender wage gap exists simply because women supposedly do not negotiate their salaries as well or as frequently as men. According to The Guardian, this notion is patently inaccurate. Women recognize the importance of negotiation and do indeed negotiate for higher salaries - they are just less likely to receive them, which is evidence of pay discrimination.

Furthermore, women actually run a much higher risk than men of being socially or professionally penalized for negotiating for more income. According to MONEY reporting on a Harvard Business Review article, "In repeated studies, the social cost of negotiating for higher pay has been found to be greater for women than it is for men... Ask your boss for more money and risk being seen as ungrateful and pushy; don't ask for more and you'll be paid less for the rest of your career."

Thus, discrimination in negotiation practices constitutes evidence of the equal pay gap and why it exists - and not an argument against it.

2. Women "Choose" Lower-Paying Jobs

Those who question the discriminatory component of the gender wage gap often say that women simply choose lower-paying jobs, which is why the gap exists. In fact, quite the opposite of this notion is true. Evidence demonstrates that when women choose jobs, the pay tends to decrease. This is demonstrated both in the average salaries for female-dominated professions as well as in overall sector salary decreases when more women choose to enter a profession that was previously dominated by men.

A sociology study cited in The Guardian was enlightening in regard to this issue and noted, "...When women enter an occupation in large numbers, that job begins to pay less, even after controlling for a range of factors like skill, race and geography... [Furthermore], their analysis found...that a higher proportion of women in an occupation leads to lower pay because of the discounting of work performed by women."

Thus, sadly, jobs that women choose often end up paying them less simply because of their gender, not because they chose a profession that was inherently low-paying.

3. Women Leave The Workforce To Have Children

Another oft-cited argument regarding the gender pay gap is that women voluntarily leave the workforce to have children and then are simply paid less because they have been out of the workforce for years and are resultantly less experienced.

However, this argument is again inaccurate for a variety of reasons. According to a study done by The Guardian, sex discrimination still constitutes the biggest reason behind the gender pay gap, even after taking into account factors like "age, tenure, time out of the workforce, occupation, industry, part-time work and sector." Furthermore, women are seemingly penalized for having children once they do return to work.

According to the Telegraph, women can earn up to a third less than men when they return to work after childbirth, while men actually earn up to 6 percent more after having a child, according to Business Insider.

Thus, a woman temporarily exiting the workforce to care for her children does not account for the gender pay gap.

4. Men Work Harder Than Women

While this seems like a ridiculous argument to have to debunk in 2017, unfortunately arguments regarding the wage gap sometimes do reflect the (erroneous) belief that men work harder than women and therefore should be paid more. According to MONEY, critics often say that men "put in more hours, don't take as much time off, and don't leave temporarily to have children." However, these statements are sweeping generalizations and are also inaccurate.

According to the New York Times, it is actually women who do more at work, but simply benefit less from it in terms of recognition. The article cited several studies that found that women are more likely to stay late at work as well as to engage in "office housework," or administrative tasks that are helpful but do not "pay off," professionally-speaking. According to the article, " women help more [at work] but benefit less from it." Furthermore, when women return home in the evenings, they are also still largely responsible for household tasks, limiting their options to continue their professional work into evening hours.

Thus, the notion that women not working as hard as men contributes to the gender pay gap constitutes a highly inaccurate argument that does not reflect reality.

5. Women Are Less Educated Than Men

Another argument seeking to debunk the discrimination aspect of the gender wage gap is the notion that men are supposedly more highly educated than women. In fact, reality reflects quite the opposite. According to MONEY, in the United States, women are actually more highly educated than men and are graduating from college and graduate school at a higher rate.

However, frustratingly, women's educational degrees are seemingly worth less than men's. MONEY cited a study from Georgetown University that showed that "men with some college but no degree earn about the same as women with a Bachelor's degree...and that women have to have a Ph.D. to make as much as men with a B.A."

Thus, the gender pay gap exists because women's education and experience is valued much less than men's-not because women are less qualified than men.

6. Women Are Not Primary Wage Earners

Critics of the gender wage gap sometimes assert that women are not primary wage earners in their households and that gender disparities in pay reflect this notion. However, this is, again, misguided criticism for many reasons. First, according to FiveThirtyEight, among heterosexual married American couples, almost 40 percent of women are the primary breadwinners. Furthermore, according to the New York Times, more than 75 percent of single mothers are the sole breadwinner for their household.

Beyond the fact that women are now financially contributing to their households more than ever before, the primary wage earner argument also does not hold up simply because it should not excuse disparities in pay for equal work.

If men and women are working the same job for the same amount of hours, they should paid equally, regardless of whether or not they are the primary breadwinners in their households.

7. Women Engage In More Part-Time Work

Another argument that seeks to diminish the significance of the gender pay gap is the notion that women engage in more part time work and therefore earn less than men. However, according to The Guardian, the issue of part-time versus full-time work is having increasingly less impact on the gender wage gap.

In 2016, The Guardian measured the impact of part-time work on the wage gap and found that its impact had declined from 14 to only 4 percent, mostly because of more flexible telework options and the emergence of more higher paying part-time jobs overall.

Moreover, the newspaper alsopointed out that responsibilities that women are still expected to disproportionately fulfill at home (like chores and childcare) often contribute to their decision to engage in part-time work, calling into question whether not working full-time actually reflects a choice women make or an expectation for their roles in society and their households.

8. Equal Pay Requirements Are Unjust Or Anti-Capitalist

Critics of equal pay legislation have also argued that making equal pay legally mandatory amounts to what they believe is "socialism" and does not allow space for merit-based pay. Indeed, in 2015 Donald Trump echoed this sentiment, saying, "If you start getting involved with government on 'this one gets this pay and this one gets that pay,' and then you say - 'Where does it all start?' ...if you sort of say, 'everybody gets equal pay,' you get away from the whole American Dream. You get away from capitalism in a sense."

Of course, believing that equal pay for equal work equates to socialism and inhibits merit-based pay is essentially implying that women are inherently worse at their jobs than men, otherwise the gender pay gap would be closed. This is obviously completely untrue, for all of the reasons described above.

Furthermore, saying that equal pay legislation is anti-capitalistic implies a complete lack of belief in the existence of a discriminatory gender pay gap, which has been repeatedly confirmed through many studies and analyses.

9. The Wage Gap Is Inaccurate Or Doesn't Exist

Finally, many critics also argue that the gender wage gap does not reflect reality and cannot take into account all of the factors that might contribute to a disparity in pay between men and women. However, beyond just calculating an average gender wage gap, many "like-for-like" studies have been conducted comparing male and female compensation in the same roles and ultimately demonstrate that women are paid less. Furthermore, the aforementioned Guardian study also demonstrated that even when taking into account a myriad of factors that could affect the wage gap, such as time off, industry, part-time vs. full time work, etc, it was still found that the primary cause for the gender wage disparity was sex discrimination.

Overall, there exists a variety of evidence to debunk some of the most common arguments people use to discredit the gender pay gap. Hopefully Equal Pay Day can serve as an opportunity to educate people about the inaccuracy of these arguments and help garner even more support for wage equality.

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Nine Frustrating Arguments About The Pay Gap, And How To Debunk Each One

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Tuesday, April 4 is Equal Pay Day, a day which symbolizes how far into the current year women must work in order to make the same amount of income that men made last year. As special attention is given to the gender wage gap today, you may hear many...

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The market is supposed to set wages. If pay is too low, employers won't be able to hire anyone, and wages will naturally rise.
Pay equity does not interfere with the market. To the contrary, AFSCME has found that in some cases, such as the state of Washington, the state is the largest employer, and therefore it sets the market. The issue of pay equity is one of internal equity, not one of wage control. Just as equal pay for equal work means that women and men holding the same job in the same organization must be paid the same, pay equity means that similar jobs held by men and women in the same organization should be paid the same. After implementing pay equity, most employers continue to survey the market. This is appropriate for jobs held by men since the market does not discriminate against these jobs. Pay for female-dominated jobs can then be determined based on internal equity.
If women want to earn more, they should choose other jobs - jobs that pay more.
More women are choosing occupations held predominantly by men, and we must continue to make these jobs more accessible to women. But society still needs secretaries, nurses, librarians and the many other occupations predominantly filled by women. Women (and men) should have the right to choose any occupation and know that they will be paid fairly for the work they do. In order to entirely eliminate segregation across occupations, one study estimated that 60 percent of all women and men would have to move to occupations dominated by the opposite sex. Such a change would obviously be very disruptive to the economy.
I don't know how you determine which jobs are similar. That's like comparing apples and oranges.
In fact, apples and oranges can be compared quite easily. For instance, we can look at nutritional content, calories and vitamins. Likewise, jobs can be compared using a job evaluation system that measures the skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions required for each job.
Women take time off from work to have children and aren't as committed to their jobs as men so men should be paid more.
There are two things wrong with this argument. First, the vast majority of women with young children are employed. In 1996, 60 percent of women with children under the age of 5 were employed. And the average work life of women today is 30 years.

Second, even if women did take more time off, pay equity looks at pay for the job, not for individual workers. Pay equity studies are based on a standard pay level, such as minimum starting pay, so that how long someone has worked does not influence the results.
If public employees receive pay equity increases, my taxes will go up, and my employer isn't giving me a pay equity raise.
Pay equity is usually implemented over a number of years, often two to four years, in order to lessen the financial impact on the employer. Most jurisdictions have had the same experience as the state of Minnesota, which implemented pay equity in a challenging fiscal environment and yet was able to do so without tax increases or layoffs. And not implementing pay equity also has a cost. Some AFSCME members work full-time and are still eligible for social services such as Food Stamps. After receiving pay equity adjustments, these workers are often able to be self-sufficient, and tax dollars are saved. Also, as more and more employers implement pay equity, it may motivate your employer to correct pay inequities too.
If my employer decides that women and people of color are underpaid, will my pay go down to even things out?
No. AFSCME's position is that we will never accept lowering anyone's pay to correct inequities. This position is supported by the federal Equal Pay Act that prohibits remedying pay problems by lowering the pay of higher paid workers.
Pay equity is unfair to men.
In today's economy, most families have two wage earners, and if one of them is paid too little, the whole family suffers. Pay equity ensures that every worker in the family is earning what they should based on the requirements of their jobs. Also, men who work in jobs traditionally held by women will also receive pay equity adjustments.
I've heard that if my employer has to raise the pay for some jobs, then they will lay people off to pay for the raises.
Some people who are opposed to pay equity like to spread this rumor, but in all of the jurisdictions where AFSCME has won pay equity, no layoffs resulted from pay equity implementation. Opponents of the minimum wage and other laws that benefit working people also use this argument, but research shows no clear link between such laws and unemployment.
Some men get paid more because they have dangerous jobs or jobs which demand physical strength.
Working conditions and physical effort are two of the factors that are commonly looked at in a pay equity study. These factors are important and should be reflected in the pay for a job. But women also work in hazardous and physically demanding jobs such as nursing, that exposes workers to a variety of infectious diseases and requires lifting patients. All jobs, regardless of whether they are performed primarily by men or by women, should be paid based on the level of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions required by the job.

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What are Common Arguments Against Pay Equity and How Can the Union Respond?

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The market is supposed to set wages. If pay is too low, employers won't be able to hire anyone, and wages will naturally rise. Pay equity does not interfere with the market. To the contrary, AFSCME has found that in some cases, such as the state of Washington, the state is the largest employer, and therefore it sets the market.

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Women don't make as much as men-and might not in your lifetime.

In a new study released Thursday, the Institute for Women's Policy Research uses Census trend data to predict when each state will close their gender wage gap. Based on each state's rate of progress from 1959 to current day, the group estimates the national wage gap will close sometime in the year 2058-or 43 years from now.

Florida will be the first state to close its wage gap, but even that will take nearly a quarter-century (2038), according to the projections. California (2042), Maryland (2042), Arizona (2044), and Nevada (2044) round out the top five.

As for the holdups, five states won't close their gaps until the 22nd century. A baby girl born today in these states-West Virginia (2101), Utah (2102), Louisiana (2106), North Dakota (2104), and Wyoming (2159)-won't live long enough to see income equality. As the group notes in its findings, at the current rate, not even millennial women will see wage equality during their working lives.

The authors' starting figure-that much cited factoid of women earning 70-some cents for every dollar of a man's paycheck-is itself a contentious one. Detractors argue that occupational segregation, education, and lifestyle choices freely made by some women explain this wage discrepancy-choices like taking a break from work to have children, or working fewer hours to raise them. Studies that do take these conditions into consideration narrow the gap to between 5 and 12 percent, or between 88 and 95 cents for every dollar a man earns.

Jessica Milli, one of the study's data analysts and a senior research associate at IWPR, confirms that the numbers do not control for differences in occupations. That said, it's clear in the study that men are far more likely to be in white-collar, high-paying jobs than their female counterparts. Of the multiple factors compounding to widen this wage gap, women's choice of industry is a big one.

"Women are definitely underrepresented in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math]," says Milli. "Those tend to pay a lot." In 2014 Forbes released a list of the top paying STEM jobs for college graduates, which included a drilling engineer job with a median pay of $113,900-nearly three times the average median pay for college graduates.

An IWPR analysis of the 2013 American Community Survey found that just 4.6 percent of women work in STEM occupations, compared to 10.3 percent of men. It's one of the fastest-growing industry categories in America, bringing in an overall median salary of $78,000 for men and $64,000 for women. The authors cite this "occupational segregation" as a major hindrance to women reaching equality in the workplace.

While some of the wage gap may boil down to fewer females in high-paying fields, Milli says the gap is also impacted by the lack of workplace policies that support women. "The pay gap is much larger for women who have children versus women who don't," says Milli. "That really reflects the fact that even though gender roles are changing they're not changing fast enough."

Nowhere is this lack of support for female in the workplace more apparent than the lack of guaranteed paid maternity leave in the U.S.-the only developed nation without it. "Women still take on a disproportionate part of the care burden and have to take more time off," says Milli. "This has huge implications for their earnings, and their overall experience in the workplace."

To further illustrate the gravity of this problem, the authors calculated the cumulative lost wages due to the nationwide gender gap. Among women born between 1955 and 1959 who worked full-time, year-round, total lost wages exceeds $530,000. For female college graduates the losses are even greater. According to their notes, by the time a college-educated woman turns 59, she will have lost nearly $800,000.

If there is one aspect of the study that Milli finds encouraging, it's the rate of education for females. "Women are earning the majority of college degrees in the U.S.," she says. "This might have some positive implications because these women may then start earning more."

But even this statistic comes with a downside. The gap of earnings is widest for those women with the highest level of education. Women with bachelor's degrees earn 71.4 percent of what their male counterparts make. Women with graduate degrees? Just over 69 percent. Wage gaps, it seems, are a dish best served brainy.

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Women don't make as much as men-and might not in your lifetime. In a new study released Thursday, the Institute for Women's Policy Research uses Census trend data to predict when each state will close their gender wage gap.

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It's Equal Pay Day, and it's the day that, if you're a woman, your earnings have finally caught up with what men were paid the previous year.

The good news is that the gender pay gap is getting smaller. In 1964, women on average were paid 59% of what men were paid. In 2014, that number had jumped to 79%.

But that's the bad news, too: Women are typically paid 79% of what men are paid.

If current trends continue, women won't earn equal pay until 2059, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

And depending on where you live, your age, race and education level, you could be waiting much longer than that.

Here's a look at how those factors play into the gender pay gap:

Women's earnings as a percentage of men's earnings vary a lot depending on race.

Asian American women, for example, earn 90% of what white men do, the American Association of University Women reports.

African American women are paid 63% of what white men are, while Hispanic or Latina women earn just 54% of what white men do, AAUW says.

Age also has a meaningful impact on the gender pay gap.

AAUW reports that women earn 90% or more of what men do up until around 35.

After that, the gap grows.

Women from the ages of 35 to 44 earn on average 81% of what men do, while women from 55 to 64 are paid just 76% of what men are paid, AAUW says.

The gap narrows slightly once workers hit 65 and up.

The gender pay gap is bigger or smaller depending on which state you call home.

Women in New York, for example, typically earn 87% of what men do, according to the National Women's Law Center. Women in Louisiana are paid 65% of what men are.

Although women's advances in education may have contributed to the pay gap getting smaller over the years, education is not an antidote.

In fact, the opposite appears true.

Women with less than a high school diploma on average make 80% of what men make, AAUW reports. That gap grows to 74% for women with an advanced degree.

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When, where and why women earn less than men

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It's Equal Pay Day, and it's the day that, if you're a woman, your earnings have finally caught up with what men were paid the previous year. The good news is that the gender pay gap is getting smaller. In 1964, women on average were paid 59% of what men were paid.

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How would you feel if your paycheck was cut in half? What if you found out that the white gentleman sitting next to you, working the same hours and doing the same work, earned almost twice as much as you?

This Latina Equal Pay Day we are highlighting the everyday reality Hispanic and Latina women face in the United States. Latinas are the most under-paid group in America. On average, we earn 54 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic white men - for the same work.

And the problem is not just for Latinas. The reality is that, on average, all women find themselves making less than their white, male counterparts for equal work. Women overall working full time, year round in this country are paid only 80 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. In 2014, black women made only 60 cents to the dollar. Asian American women made only 84 cents. Women of every race are paid less than men, and it doesn't matter if you have a higher education; the gaps persists at all education levels. The gap gets worse as women advance in their careers.

In our own state of California, the wage gap for Latinas is even worse. The National Women's Law Center found that in 2014 Latina women in California typically made only 43 cents for every dollar paid to white men.

Do you know why Latina Equal Pay Day is November 1st? That is because Nov. 1 represents the approximate day that Latina women must work in the current year to make the same amount of money men did in the previous year. 22 months. It takes Latina women 22 months to earn what white men were paid in twelve.

That means that Latina women are losing $25,217 a year due to the wage gap. The wage gap isn't just a number - $25,000 a year is real money.

$25,000 a year is the difference between being able to put food on the table and having to skip meals to save money.

In many parts of the country, that is a down payment on a house!

And in my district in eastern Los Angeles County - that's the difference between having a reliable car and worrying if your car will break down on the way to work.

Based on today's wage gap, over the course of a 40-year career, the average Latina will lose over $1 million to the wage gap. This means that Latinas would have to work 73 years to earn what white, non-Hispanic men earn in 40 years - an impossible hill to climb.

But that wage gap also has serious implications on our nation's economic future. Latinos are expected to be a third of our nation's population by 2050, and we know that the success of our country depends on the success of the Latino community.

We should strongly be encouraging equal pay for all women. It just makes economic sense. A recent study found that full gender equality in the workplace could boost the U.S. economy by an impressive $4.3 trillion in about a decade - making it one of the best economic stimulus ideas out there.

More money in the pocket of all women - particularly Latina women whose share of the market has only grown since 2013 - would provide a boost to our national economy since let's face it, Latinas are usually the ones controlling the purse strings of their families.

This Latina Equal Pay Day, let's celebrate all hardworking Latina women by standing up for Latina workers and demanding equal pay for equal work.

I stand as a strong supporter of the Paycheck Fairness Act so that we can finally tear down this cycle of inequality. Next year, Congress must make passing equal pay legislation a priority. Ensuring equal pay for equal work makes economic sense. It deserves bipartisan support.

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Equal Pay For Latinas Makes Economic Sense

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How would you feel if your paycheck was cut in half? What if you found out that the white gentleman sitting next to you, working the same hours and doing the same work, earned almost twice as much as you? This Latina Equal Pay Day we are highlighting the everyday reality Hispanic and Latina women face in the United States.